Saturday, March 26, 2005

Hey European types - this story can't possibly be true can it?

"Lets take a look at the case of Gerhard Haderer. He's an Austrian cartoonist who published a satire on the life of Jesus. Like most satires, it is not very respectful, but it contravenes no Austrian law. Unbeknown to him, however, the book was republished in Greece, a country not known these days for its attachment to freedom. The book was banned, Haderer was found guilty of blasphemy and sentenced to jail. He's appealing, but if he loses, he can under EU law be extradited to Greece to serve his time and Austria cannot do anything about it."

Sunday, March 20, 2005

HAPPY THOUGHTS OF THE DAY.

Yesterday evening at around 7pm, yours truly (to the left of the goatf*cker) was heading off with his lady to some eating event organised by a diving club (there were salmon and fries on the menu card) and on dropping off the kid at my parents house I was able to see a few TV newsshots. Just a few secs of watching neocommie Belgian TV was enough to get furious and possibly have my appetite spoiled, so we quickly left for our salmon. However, fellow Blogger De Andere Kijk (The Other View) had the guts to watch "Eén" (One), as the Belgian/Flemish state-run TV broadcaster has recently been renamed. Watch it out, rather. This is a translation of the report he filed:

You are wrong, wrong, wrong!

Two years ago Operation Iraqi Freedom started. "Our" national broadcast again did its utmost best to "offer content" at this anniversary. The 7pm news was typical again:

*one could see the victims of American bombs, but not those of suicide terrorists driving [their bomb-laden cars] into [crowds of] their own compatriots.

*"remorseful" ex-soldiers and angry parents of deceased soldiers were allowed to have their say, while soldiers stationed right now in Iraq and parents who did not want the name of their killed son was used for propaganda, could not be heard.

*the man/woman in the street who can complain about the so-called absence of an "exit-strategy"

*the demonstrations of "the population" against Bush while your TV screen was full of red flags, of UK Socialist Party banners and of communist symbols and strongmen

*I even saw a placard with "HANDS OFF IRAN AND SYRIA". Indeed, let dictator Assad and Mullah Khamenei go on terrorizing their own and other populations.

UPDATE 20/3: today again some "coverage" of "our" national broadcaster. Again a couple of "remorseful" ex-soldiers and angry parents. To top it all off, an interview with Giuliana Sgrena who wants an explanation of George W. Bush himself.

Thank you De Andere Kijk.

I will say it again and again: while there may indeed be a certain resentment and inherent anti-Americanism among European populations, mostly born out of a certain sense of inferiority and impotence, I keep insisting that the media is the key in (starting to) altering the political landscape in Europe. I would say that 10-15% of the European populace are diehard moonbats, 7-8% pro-US and the middle field, well, in the absence of the European Neocommunist networks they would be either indifferent or mildly pro-US. As it is now, this undecided, lukewarm-for-everything-but-soaps-wages-vacations-sexlife-retirement mob is prone to a constant bombardment of false impressions and outright deep red propaganda. Take our national TV broadcaster: I have a fairly good idea who the producers are, the directors, the anchormen: I know their backgrounds, I know the circles they come from: leftist to extreme leftist, all of them. You won’t find a single rightwinger at "Eén", except for an occasional lower level technician maybe, and even that is doubtful.

Our state-run TV networks have to be privatised. And Europe needs its FOX, or FOX-like, networks. The media is the key.